My dear little Saint,
What a beautiful hedge
He placed around you,
Mother and Father,
Sisters and Faith,
Love to grow you,
And hardship
To steel you.
Holiness drew you
As family ties
Formed you for God,
And set you free
To take flight
In the air of Carmel.
Little Saint be to me
Mother, Father, Sister
And my school of Faith.
With you like Solomon,
I learn to sing,
“Draw me; we will run
after Thee
To the odor
Of Thy ointments.”
I am the greatest obstacle
To my salvation,
Yet You leap the walls,
I have raised about me.
You breech them,
You penetrate them.
You shake and crumble them.
Your Holy Spirit
Is that quake
Of Calvary,
The earthquake,
That rattled open prison doors,
Destroyed the chains of those,
Commissioned to speak with Your power,
And in Your Name..
Place a high,
Insurmountable hedge about me.
One I can not leap,
When I hear the voices
Calling on the other side.
I know myself,
And that I shall try to flee.
For, though the boundary,
Be for my own good,
Fool, that I know myself to be,
Fleeing is in me.
All my hope
Is in the Love
You bear for me.
You, my Love,
Scale the walls of my pride,
O, Love, Who sets watch towers
On the heights,
And is enemy
To my enemies,
And the Guardian
Of my soul.
Fear not to approach
And behold the child.
See, it is you!
He holds His treasure
Cradled in the arms
Of His Only Begotten Son.
No memory of sins forgiven
No repugnance,
For past crimes vanish,
Banished, by His flaming Love.
The Spirit and the Bride
Say “Come!”
©2012 Joann Nelander
Fire once flame
Enkindled by the Spirit,
Smolder.
Embers still aglow,
Await a new Wind,
And a prayer,
Sent on the breath
Of the will,
Catalyst and fuel.
O Spirit blaze again
To the heavens,
Sending heat and light
To ignite those cold,
World-weary and, now, ready.
Then will the sparks fly
And the earth shake.
Lord Jesus, send forth Your Spirit,
We are athirst and longing.
©2012 Joann Nelander
If heaven can be made more glorious,
Make it so, my Lord.
If the honor and respect, I show,
Sinner, though I am,
Can render
Your saints more glory,
For the light
They shine on men,
Make it so, my Lord.
If the blood of martyrs,
Can again be received
Before Your throne,
Mingled with the Blood of Christ,
That coursed their veins,
And flowed out
As rivers.
To wash the Nations
And praise Your Holy Name,
Make it so, my Lord.
All time is Now
In Your Eternity.
Your battles,
Though waging on earth,
Have all been won,
And presented to You
In Your Son.
“Thy Kingdom come!”
You make it so , O my Lord.
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Seek grace before bliss.
To seek bliss,
Is to seek the gift
May be to shun the Giver.
Who conjures dreams matters.
My pleasure may spring
From forbidden springs.
Before I entrust
Myself to gods,
Should I not seek
To discern truth
From Truth.
Come, come,
O, kind Spirit of Truth,
Though You contradict my way,
I promise to obey,
Clad in Your grace,
Day by day.
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Indwelling Trinity,
You inhabit heaven,
While all things in nature
Are held in being by Your Will,
There is a Presence
Of the supernatural kind,
That lights the soul
Of the baptized child.
O, God, indwelling,
In the heaven
Of my soul,
Behold me,
Living in constant adoration,
Willing Thy Will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
©2012 Joann Nelander
all rights reserved
My Child,
What will you worship today?
My sun warms you and brightens your day.
My plants and animals sustain you.
My ground yields it’s treasure
To build
And energize your cities.
Rivers of beauty
Play across the land,
Teeming abundantly.
You perceive
The wonder of creation,
Yet, your love
Does not go
Beyond the creature,
To see, or seek the Creator.
You do not want
To meet the artist.
You do worship.
You worship what you love.
There is little room for Me.
I am to you a thermostat
For your comfort,
Under your control.
Desiring love
I weep.
Here I am
Within reach.
Stretch out your heart
And I am yours.
My child,
What will you worship today?
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
You are God
Wholly Other,
Yet Your humanity
Embraces me
By sacrament.
You are the Head,
The Church, Your Mystical Body,
And in it
I wash my robes,
To take on
The Infant Life of Christ,
Wholly dependent,
Yet gifted
With abundant blessing.
You are God,
Wholly Other,
My Father receives me,
Clothed in the living Flesh
Of the beloved Son.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
I press my ear
To Your Heart, my Jesus.
With the beating rhythm,
That bounds within Your Breast,
My Spirit takes wing,
And rushes to Your Side,
That pierced and open side,
That Gate of Heaven.
“Enter,” You invite.
Leaving without my fear,
I enter in.
I am all ear,
You, all Heart
And Fire,
A furnace of Love.
My spirit faints
With longing.
A voice of spirit
Reassures and comforts.
In flight,
My soul alights,
Coming to rest,
As coming home.
You have always
Known me.
In an instant,
I know You,
And, only now,
Know me,
In consummate repose.
Glowing, two hearts beating as one,
Union of spirit,
Mine yielding to Yours,
To become truly myself.
Complete and Resplendent,
As the dawn of New Day,
Colored by a thousand rainbows,
Breaking ranks
And melting,
In a perfusion of light,
Dancing across my soul,
Reverberating, throughout the Universe,
In happy harmony.
O, Hallowed One,
We now are Three,
Your completeness
Embraces me.
I know all of heaven,
In knowing Thee.
Heaven has made room for me,
A sacred chamber,
And a mansion,
Raised in Your Rising in me.
I hear my new name
And am transfigured,
As You speak it.
Cor ad cor loquitor.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
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